When the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers get together, the games tend to generate quite a bit of fireworks.

The NFL is hoping that’s the case in Week 8 on Sunday Night Football during the 2025 season when the Steelers host the Packers.

That matchup, hopefully, features 41-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the Black and Gold, which will generate number of additional storylines for the fans and media alike.

But even if Rodgers isn’t in that game, the Steelers-Packers matchup remains a great game on the NFL schedule. In fact, NFL.com’s Kevin Patra ranked Steelers-Packers as the 10th-best game in the NFL this season. Of course, Rodgers starting for the first time against the Packers would make it all the more enticing, but there are a number of fun storylines in the matchup outside of Rodgers facing his old team.

“If Aaron Rodgers eventually signs with the Steelers, this Super Bowl XLV rematch becomes an intriguing plotline. Can Rodgers flip the script and lead Mike Tomlin’s club over his former team? Does he have enough left in the tank to play a full season? Even if the four-time MVP doesn’t join Pittsburgh, this matchup offers fun storylines,” Patra writes, according to NFL.com. “A well-built Steelers defensive line with T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward and first-round pick Derrick Harmon against a Packers o-line that, if the pieces fit right, has the upside to be among the best in the league — or could collapse in on itself like a dying star. The Steelers’ trade of George Pickens to the Dallas Cowboys places a large question mark on Pittsburgh’s wide receiver room. However, the franchise still boasts a No. 1 field-stretching weapon in DK Metcalf — who’s already started building a rapport with Rodgers.

“Metcalf, and another other potential veteran the Steelers might add (e.g. Keenan Allen or Amari Cooper), face a Packers secondary that has questions of its own, with Jaire Alexander’s future still up in the air. Also, Jordan Love, first-round pick Matthew Golden and an array of Packers pass catchers against Darius Slay, Joey Porter Jr., Minkah Fitzpatrick and the rest of the Steelers secondary.”

There’s a lot of storylines there that Patra laid out. The thought of the Steelers’ revamped defensive front against a good Packers offensive line, DK Metcalf and Steelers receivers against a Packers secondary in disarray, and the Packers’ offensive weapons against a new-look Steelers secondary are all intriguing.

But nothing comes close to the Rodgers-Packers storyline that would dominate attention that week leading up to the matchup.

Rodgers spent 18 seasons in Green Bay. He won Super Bowl XLV against the Steelers, has four NFL MVP awards to his name, and is arguably the best quarterback in Packers history. He’d be going against his former head coach and quarterback Jordan Love, whom he helped mentor before being traded to the New York Jets.

Things might not have ended all that well in Green Bay with the trade and some negative feelings about the Packers wanting to move on and giving Love a look, but Rodgers doesn’t seem to hold a grudge against Green Bay at this point. The same can’t be said for the Jets, but still, the matchup against the Packers — which would be the first for Rodgers — would be a big deal.

Of course, it all hinges on him signing with the Steelers, which many believe will happen at some point this offseason.

But Rodgers against the Packers wouldn’t be the only storyline worth watching in that Week 8 matchup, even if he would dominate the headlines.

The last time the Steelers and Packers met, Pittsburgh came out on top, 23-19, during the 2023 season as former safety Damontae Kazee picked off Love at the goal line in the final seconds to secure the win. There will be some revenge on Love’s mind as the Packers gave up a late lead and Love threw two interceptions in the red zone.

It’ll be early enough in the season, too, where the weather should be decent, which could lead to some fireworks through the air featuring some big-name weapons.

Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth on the call only adds to the intrigue of a game that Patra believes is one of the NFL’s 10 best in 2025.